Relay structure



Oct. 17, 1961 D. BRUNICARDI' RELAY STRUCTURE Filed April 50, 1958 42 FIGI.

'IIIIIIIIIm INVENTOR.

7 base.

3,005,071 RELAY STRUCTURE Daniel Brunicardi, Wood Dale, Ill., assignor to Cmar Electric Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporatlon'of Illinois Filed Apr. so, 1958, Ser. No. 731,961 'Claims. c1. 200-87) port for'po le pieces, coil, and armature, of a novel and compact construction providing rugged and rigid support for these parts in a small volume with favorable assembly characteristics suitable for production mannfacture.

Additional objects and aspects of novelty and utility pertain to details of the construction and operation of the parts of the preferred commercial embodiment described hereinafter in view of the annexed drawing, in which: 1 v 7 FIG. 1 is'an elevational view, to enlarged scale, of the relay unit with cover removed;

FIG. 2, isa side view of the unit of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective of major components, of the unit.

FIG; 4 is a fragmentary horizontal section looking down beneath the bight or floor 21 of the frame.

The assembled relay as depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2 consists mainly of an insulating base member a frame member 20; pole pieces v30 engaged in the frame, and supporting a drivingcoil 40, together'withan armature Referring to FIG. 3, particularly, the base 10 is oval in shape and made of molded insulating material with a plurality of depending contact pins 12 molded therein for socket mounting. Two of the pins 12A, 12B project a substantially'greater distance above the base than the "others to serve as coil terminals, as will appear. The upper ends ofthe remaining contact pins have certain movable and stationary contacts attachedthereto.

The contact pins of the two pairs at the opposite ends of the base each have stationary contacts attached thereto, these contacts, for example contact 14, being, U-

shaped in form with one arm turned into a loop 15 to fit tightly onto the upperexposed end12D of one of said" I endmost pairs of contacts and being preferably secured in good electricalcontact therewith by suitable means such as soldering, the material of which the contacts are United States 1 Patent Patented Oct. 17., 1961 ice washer 56.

:between the frame arms 22 before the The framemeans 30 is a unitary metal stamping in the form of two oppositely-facing U-shaped sections each sharing a common bight portion 21 but each section having its pair of sides or arms rotated 90 degrees around the bearing axis through the bight portion 21 at 55, 54.

Thus, the upper frame section has its pair of arms 22 parallel to a common plane, while the two lower legs 23 are parallel to another plane standing at right angles to the first plane. Each of said legs has an offset toe 24, adapted to fit snugly into a corresponding stabilizing and locating notch 11 in the base in assembly with the latter (FIG. 1) in which condition, it may be noted here, the two long upper ends 12A, 12B of the middle contact pins each pass through an over-size hole such as 25, each formed partly in the common bight or floor 21 of the frame and partly in one of each of the pendant legs 23, said long pin ends being fitted with insulating sleeves 12X (FIG. 2). i

The pole pieces 30 are two in number and each of L sh'ape having a main stem or shank 31 and a foot portion 32 notched as at 33 near the stem.

Stems 31 are each passed in opposite direction through aligned slots 28 formed in the two upper frame arms 22, so that pole piece stems 31 are lapped together each with its foot 32 depending at opposite sides of the frameto relation by resistance welding or the like, as indicated at 35 in FIG. 1.

The driver coil 40 is wound on a bobbin 42 having a narrow laterally elongated bore 43 closely encircling the lapped pole piece portions 31, the coil being positioned pole pieces are inserted and joined by the welding 35. v 7 Coil leads 44 (FIG. 1) are each led to and soldered to the upperends of one of the pin heads 12A or 1213.

Thus the frame pole pieces, coil, and armature constitute another subassembly with desirable production, magnetic, and operating features, as will appear, and readily joined to the contact subassembly.

made having good conductive properties and being somewhat springy. There are four such stationary'contacts Y in the embodiment shown.

- There are two movable contacts 16 formed from thin elongated spring blade stock of good conductivity and each having one looped end 17 fitted upon and secured, as by soldering, to the upper exposed end, as at 12D, of

one of the contact pins located near the middle'of the Between its ends, each movable contact blade 16 has a crimped stiffening rib 18, and at the free end of each said blade there is affixed a suitable contact piece 19 the elongated, U-shaped, ferromagnetic armature piece 50.

The disclosed construction affords a very rugged mounting and subassembly for the coil, pole pieces, and

armature, these advantages arising from the configuration of the frame member with respect to the oppositely pro jecting, angularly-ofiset pairs of arms and legs respectively engaging the base member and the coil-pole-armature assembly. In very small relays efiiciency and space limitations are largely incompatible, and for military and aircraft applications ruggedness and dependability are essential qualifications.

Operating coils such as the coil 40 must produce a maximum or optimum operating force even at substandard operating voltages and under certain temperature ranges wherein the heat generated in the coil and/or the ambient heat can seriously affect the coil resistance and therefore the minimum voltage at which the relay will operate. Some miniature relays have employed a num- 7 her of small coils toachieve a desired efficiency in a limited space and to aid in heat dissipation; however,

space limitations for subminiature types become increasingly restrictive, and the disclosed relay construction possible the use of a single coil in a minimized 'space with satisfactory heat dissipation owing to the presence and arrangement "of a large, heat-cnductive metal area in the frame in good proximity to the coil, as well as in the can or cover which may be fitted very close to the coil and leg parts of the'frame when assembled with the base as indicated by dotted "lines in 'FIG. 2.

The assembly of the 'device as suggested by FIG. '3 is an independent spring means for normalizing the armature rather than rely upon the spring action of the contacts to return the armature to normal position, said spring means being shown in FIG. '4, and comprising a thin,- elongated blade spring 60 of beryllium copper or the like, one end'portion of which is secured, as 'byresistance welding to the outside face of one of the,'frame legs 23, the opposite end .of this bladebeing turned back around said leg at such an angle .as will cause the rolled end 61 thereofto press against one side of the armature eccentric of the pivot and axis '53 thereof, whereby the armature is normally driven in the same direction as by the normal spring tension in the movable contact blades 16.

I claim:

1. In a relay, a onerpiece frame structure comprising a common floor portion having a pair of parallel arms and a pair of parallel legs projecting in respectively approximately parallel arms; the pair of arms comprising one'U-sec'tion being parallel to a plane lying at fight angles to the plane of parallelism for the other pair of arms, one pair of said arms having aligned pole slots; pole pieces extending substantially through said slots; a coil situated betweenysaid pair of slotted arms on the portions. of said pole pieces therebetween; and ;an :armatureimovablymounted on :said :comm'on :floor bight on the side thereof opposite from said coil, said pole'pieces having pole-face ;portions extended beyond the floor to cooperate with said armature; and a base means supportably engagingthe pairs of arms remote from the :coil and having contact means cooperable with said armature.

4..'In a relay, a base having movable and stationary contact means thereon and at least two upstanding contact .pins embedded therein and extending through the .base to function as socket terminal pins; a one-piece frame having a pair of opposite .arms upstanding from an integral floor section and a pair of depending opposite legs also integral with said tfloor section and engaging 'the base, a magnet coil having a core opening lodged between said pair ofarms, the latter having aligned slots;

,1 a pair of pole pieces. each projected through one of said opposite directions from each of the .two opposite sides thereof, said pairs being angularly displaced 90 about an axis normal to said floor; said pair of arms being perforated to-provide aligned pole slots therethroug-h, and said pair of legs constituting base-mounting and spacing legs; a base member having supporting engagement with saidmounting legs; contact means on said base member; a coil having a bore disposed in alignment with said pole slots and disposed in a position between said pair of arms; pole pieces projecting through said slots .into the bore of the coil and having o'fiset pole-faceparts extending to a level beyond said floor toward said mounting legs; an armature bearing carried on "said floorat least onthe side thereof toward said mounting legs; an

armature pivotally mounted onsaid bearingfor cooperative movement relative to said pole-face parts and relative to certain of said contact means for switching action therewith; and means extending from the region. of said coil through said floor and connecting the coil with certain other contact means on the base member.

2. The relay construction of claiml further characterized in that said coil-connecting means comprises a pair of long contact-pins embedded in said base member and extending beyond the base member in opposite directions to provide socket contact pins on an outer side-of the base member and coil-connection extensions passing through said floor to a level for connection respectively with terminal ends of the coil, said floor having .two oversized holes 'therethrough respectively at the conjunctions of each of said two mounting legs therewith through which said pin extensions pass freely through vthe floor as set forth.

3. In a relay, a one piece frame structure formounting both an armature and a .coil, theframe comprising a single piece of metal formed to define two U-shaped sections each opening in a direction opposite fromfthe other, each section showing a common centralb'ight portion constituting a floor, and each having a pair of 76 slots into the core of the coil and each pole piece also having an angularly offset pendantly-directed po le face extending past said door in a direction .towardsaid base for cooperation with .an armature for actuating said .movable contact means; a bearing pin secured pendantly from a mid-portion of said floor and pivotally supporting said armature, said floor having at least twocut-awayportions therein, each registering with, one of said contact pins, each of the latter extending through an appertaining one of said. cutsaway portions to a level at least to the coil side of said floor for connection respectively with a terminal of .the coil winding.

'"5.'"In a relay, a one-piece frame supporting an electromotor and armature subassembly which comprises a coil, a pair of pole pieces each having a shank and a .foot in ,L-shaped relation, and an armature bar; said frame consisting of a one-piece stamping of non-magnetic materials-including a common central floor portionhavn a .P of gned arms projecting in parallelism upwardly at right angles to the plane of said floor at opposite side rmargins thereof, a coil seated between said arms and having .a bore alignedtherewith, said armseach having a slot therethroughali gned respectively with the "like slot inrrthe other arm and both with said ,coil bore;

.One of each of saidpole pieces having its shank pro- .jecte'd through the slot inan appertaining one of said arms and fully entering said coil bore alongside the shank of the other pole piece, and the foot portion of each pole piece depending on the outside down past said floor for cooperation with said armature; a fixed bearing pin depending centrally from the underside of said floor remote from said arms; said armature being journalled on said pin and having opposite ends each cooperable with one of said dependingpole piece ,portions; and a pair of legs extended integrally, each opposite the othertfrom one lower side margin of, said floor injth'e .direction oppositely .away from said arms .and each located in a plane at right angles to the plane of one of said arms, said legs extending beyond said spin and armature andbe'ing adapted to supportably engage .abase member having contact means actuated .by electromagnetic displacement of said armature.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,698,366 Howell ,Dec. 28, 1954 "2,718,568 Somers, Sept. 20, 1955 $824,189 "Zimmer was..- Feb. g-l8, 1958 2,827,528 Girdwoo'd .et a1. Y ,V Mar. :18, ,1'95 8 

